This book is a great introduction to the Left Book Club. Its introduction sets out how the Club worked: "members were committed to buying a designated title from his (Gollancz) list every month, for a minimum of six months. The books were often specialy commissioned for the LBC, but were sold to the general public at two or three times the club price of 2s 6d. They were distributed via bookshops and some newsagents. To encourage as many new readers as possible, the monthly choices were supposed to require 'not the slightest knowledge of politics, economics or history for perfect understanding.' Gollancz wanted to create an active political readership,an intellectual popular front."
He got the idea from the Book Society which operated a similar scheme as a conventional business.  (X)

The anthology ranges across political reportage, autobiography, plays, science (eugenics), history and fiction. Everyone will have their favourites. I particularly liked Spanish Testament by Koestler which tells of his imprisonment by Franco forces and Our Street by Jan Petersen which is "an account of left-wing resistance to Nazism in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin". I was also intrigued by extracts from the Left Song Book and would like to have seen more of their Five Famous Rounds with New Words. The extract from Prices Rise (sung to the tune of Three Blind Mice) certainly whetted my appetite :

Prices rise, prices rise
See how they mount,
see how they mount
They've raised the price of your daily bread
And given you cruisers and guns instead
For they know it won't trouble you when your dead
That prices rise  (p.174)

The LBC was a powerful political force; one which always had strong links with the Communist Party. Paul Laity doesn't shy away from this issue. He makes it clear that "One aspect of the selection process was never made explicit - the unwillingness on the part of Gollancz, Strachey and Laski to criticise the Soviet Union and its leadership, or to publish anything which would seriously annoy the Communist Party." (XV) Strachey in particular was keen on Stalin, commenting on the show trials he said there was "no conceivable alternative after the accused had told their stories but to shoot them". (XVII)
Laity concludes that "It's pretty clear now that it came close to being a 'front' organisation."  (XV)

Perhaps it was inevitable that the enthusiasm and idealism of the LBC were accompanied by naivety. With the rise of Fascism in Europe young people had a clear enemy, and looked to Communism as a counter ideology and power. Orwell and other writers, however, were not comfortable with what came to be known as Stalinism.
Paul Laity has done an excellent job of putting the debates and works in a political and historical context.

Members of the LBC believed they could change the world... I hope that people read it now and take some of that with them.

Elledge's wonderful book will be relished by anyone interested in how Byron became Byron (the famous and infamous Byron, the adored Byron, the poet Byron), by anyone interested in the odd ins-and-outs of English public-school education in the early nineteenth century, or by anyone interested in the London theatre of that time. This book provides a continually witty, revealing, and brilliant reading of the long- and short-term effects of Byron's dramatic recitations at Harrow, where he was in residence from 1801 to 1805. It unearths fascinating material about contemporaneous educational practices, relating these at every point to the young Byron's flowering genius and to his struggles within what might be called, with understatement, an unusual family. And when Elledge turns to William Henry West Betty, the thirteen-year-old theatrical sensation whom Byron more or less risked his life to see, and see again, we get a delicious picture of celebrity mania to rival the later nineteenth-century tumult over Liszt. The book is beautifully written, its sentences gem-cut. Elledge wears his immense learning lightly and manages to combine vast scholarship and keen interpretation without the slightest loss of narrative and dramatic interest. It's pungent, fast-paced, and hard to put down. An award-winning performance.

This book is excellent for anyone living in or visiting wales.the sites are unusual as most of the churches are abandoned ruins in picturesque settings and worth exploring. the authors have compiled a variety of interesting stories relating to the churches and also give exact details of how to find them. Also they have supplied a good itinery of other interesting sites in the area.
good value for money, nicely illustrated, well written and clearly presented.

Have you ever longed for a study of literary monsters that does not lose itself in terminological jabbering and offers you concise, yet thought-provoking analyses of literary texts instead? Then you should have a look at Goetsch's book about monsters in English literature. In a broad sweep, it covers virtually all major works from romanticism to the end of WW1, starting with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and ending with the English war poets. The comparatively broad definition of monsters Goetsch provides proves to be a gain, because this model allows him to take in many texts other theorists would exclude, such as Hamlet or the poetry of Wilfred Owen. At the end of the book, he describes recent developments in monster literature such as in postmodernism or in feminist texts. For all its merits, the study has one drawback: it seems to have been written in a rush, so that some of the footnotes contain misspellings or mistakes. Nevertheless, I think the book is a very valuable companion to monsters in English literature.

The Oxford Readers Companion to Charles Dickens serves as an alphabetical tour of the life of the greatest novelist of the Victorian Era. With entries ranging from "A Becket, Gilbert" to "Yates, Frederick" this wonderfully engrossing reference book offers readers information about every aspect of the life, work, and historical environment in which the great man created magic. From analytical entries about every novel to biographical sketches of his friends and foes, this book truly brings Dickens to vivid and enjoyable life. No scholar of the 19th century novel should miss this comprenhensive work.

If you like a cook book to read, and not just to get recipes from, then this book is for you. It shows all the different aspects of a restauranteur's life right down to the way the ducks are killed - it's not for the squeamish, but deals with it very matter-of-factly. If you happen to be a Lancashire ex-patriot deprived of dishes such as Black Pudding, or Pig's Trotter (foot) stuffed with Ham-hock and Sage then you'll be drooling.

Consider this. A Gateau of Black Pudding, Onions and Cabbage. If that gets the juices going, then buy this book without hesitation!

Morrison's timely post-Marxist screed comments sagely upon a variety of contemporary critical debates. Those familiar with the polymathic cultural critic's briefer interventions will not despise this, his first sustained engagement with Modernism's embryonic (and full-blown) fascist affinities. Those who fashionably scorn and/or valorize Modernist pieties, or who rest secure in the "knowledge" that the Modernist trajectory has trailed off the cultural radar screen, will find much to raise hackles here. If, like a PoMo Pilate, you find yourself questioning Truth, but not staying for an answer, you'll really relate to the characters in this book, and you'll hate when it ends. There's some unnecessary talk about a guy called "Ideology," and frankly offensive references to a brother named "DeMan," but the true-to-life characterizations of the protagonists and visual descriptions of settings carry the reader through and make this page-turner impossible to put down. I hope Morrison keeps up writing like this, and I will recommend this book to all my co-workers.

Wish this were available on CD.
Students, actors, and Coward enthusiasts have a wonderful example of vintage Coward. Scofield and Routledge shine in their roles of Elliot and Amanda, the two sparring partners in love.
The key to Coward is the quick, witty reparte of the dialogue. Both actors are wonderful in their roles. And in this particular production, the balcony scene, when they recall their former happiness together is very poignant. This comes from their expertise in knowing how to deliver a line, such as Amanda's "extraordinary how potent...cheap music is"
The two supporting roles are well acted as well.

The flip side of this is another Coward classic, HAYFEVER. Peggy Ashcroft is supported by a talent cast in this screwball story of a very oddball family.

It's unfortunate this item is out of print . . it contains fabulous performances by Patricia Routledge (Hyacinth of "Keeping Up Appearances", for all you Britcom fans), Paul Scofield, and Miriam Margolyes (occasional star of the "Blackadder" series). This edition of "Private Lives" FAR excels the currently available audiocassette version, done by the LA Theatre Works; although it may be rather odd if you've seen Routledge and Scofield on TV, because they play parts suited for MUCH younger people in this comedy. If you're a fan of Coward's, I suggest you try to find this gem.

This is a very good play, another example of Jeremy Paul's excellent writing. What most people don't know is that Jeremy Brett helped write this play! He worked hard to help it get going , even though he was already diagnosed with Manic Depression at this time. He was VERY enthusiastic about it, but thought that the play wouldn't run for very long. The play ran for over a year! I recommend this play to people who are fans of Sherlock Holmes, Jeremy Brett, or actors (like myself) who enjoy fine plays.

I had the great pleasure of attending a poetry reading by Paul Muldoon at Villanova University, having never heard of the poet before. He read first a short, ironic work entitled "Why Brownlee Left" (which is included in this collection). Paul Muldoon's words rang clear and true, echoing human experience at all octaves and levels. Moved by his reading, I quickly purchased this collection and realized even further the talent of this man.

There is immense meaning and weight in his subjects, yet his verse remains unadorned and natural; he assumes no airs, he will lose no audience in puffed-up poetics.

This collection serves as a gathering of only the choicest, sweetest (and occasionally bitterest) works of Paul Muldoon- the book may be read cover to cover, digested fully three or four times in a day withuout any diminishment of hunger. From the sublime visions of childhood, to the subtle ironies and perplexities of adulthood, Paul Muldoon has taken the raw matter of his memory and crafted it into a work of art bound to hold relevance in anyone's life.

Though the author celerbrates his distinctly irish roots, his poetry will appeal to persons of all different backgrounds- Paul Muldoon has captured here universal chords of humanity. No one has ever been where Paul Muldoon has traversed, but everyone has experienced it and will easily recognize the fundamental currents behind his work. Paul Muldoon is both a poet's poet and a poet of great appeal to the general audience, I feel I may safely reccomend this book to everyone.